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2009:08:07:08:00. Friday. NO!: BLACK FRANCIS (#506, JUL 11 2009).
It's sort of fitting that this podcast should end with Frank Black playing an early Pixies song, since seeing the Pixies in late 2004 was what prompted me to get a small digital camera I could take into shows. This show provided as much excitement as that Pixies show, surprisingly, with so many songs I really wanted to hear ("Cactus" and "Bullet" were the highlights). Now I'm on sort of a permanent holiday. I hope to get back to something like this in the near future, but it'll be more irregular and a bit thicker. I'm thinking about getting into the show-booking business, and it might be tied to that. We'll see. Until then, it's been fun.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2009:08:06:08:24. Thursday. LEAVING TOWN.
As of yesterday, we've left Madison and now live in Carbondale, IL. I updated my Where I've Lived on Facebook and everything, which makes it really official. I'm starting on the faculty at Southern Illinois University in a couple weeks and I think we're going to find it much harder to go to shows down here, so things with the blog and the podcast will probably be changing quite a bit. With any luck I'll be able to coax my friends from Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago down here to play once in a while, but that's just a possibility at this point. I have one more podcast episode to post, and we'll be posting updates somewhere about the work we do on the house we bought. Keep your eyes pealed for what's next.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2009:08:05:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: BLACK FRANCIS (#505, JUL 11 2009).
It was an odd coincidence that our last two High Noon shows were of the intimate, semi-acoustic variety. Opening for Frank Black was Mark Waldoch of Milwaukee's Celebrated Working Man, kind of the mirror-image of Jon Auer. While playing he was supremely confident and poised, but between songs he seemed a little overwhelmed by opening for a legend and playing to a legend's crowd. He actually complimented the audience for their kindness and the weird thing was he was right -- it was the nicest High Noon crowd I've ever seen. But then I got to thinking, I've never heard of this supposed Milwaukee-based Celebrated Working Man, and I've never seen this guy before. He's kind of a big guy and his material is not terribly different from Frank Black's recent work. What if Mark Waldoch doesn't exist, but is a persona Frank takes on -- a wig, some make-up, an outfit just the negative of what he wears for his set -- and identifies as from a band in a nearby city? It would be like the time U2 opened for themselves way back when. Maybe Frank's next album would be called The Celebrated Working Man and include the songs he played as Waldoch, etc. Well, I just imagined it. Waldoch was in the audience during Frank's set, while Frank was clearly onstage. But still, I think this is something to think about for his next tour.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2009:08:03:08:00. Monday. NO!: BLACK FRANCIS (#504, JUL 11 2009).
I never would've guessed this show would be such a blast, especially considering how little I know of Frank Black's solo material (and yet, he'll always be Frank Black to me for some reason). Opening his bottle of wine and launching the show with this medley got the crowd going quick, and was a surprising burst of energy from the nearly empty stage.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra |
